COVID-19 updates: Elizabeth Warren tests positive

The senator says she's experiencing "mild symptoms."

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 806,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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White House delays enforcement of workforce vaccine-or-test mandate

Enforcement of the Biden administration's vaccine-or-test mandate for private companies with more 100 employees will be delayed by a month, officials said.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the change Saturday, a day after a federal appeals court lifted a stay on the rule, allowing it to proceed.

Previously, the mandate required companies to enforce masks among unvaccinated employees beginning Dec. 6, and either see proof of vaccination or begin testing workers weekly by Jan. 4.

The new deadlines for compliance are now Jan. 10 and Feb. 9, respectively, OSHA said.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty


New York state sets another daily case record

Nearly 22,000 positive COVID-19 test results were reported in New York state in the last 24 hours, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul's office -- breaking a single-day record set the day before.

The 21,908 positive COVID-19 test results are out of 290,930 results reported -- for a 7.53% positivity rate.

Demand for testing also continues to rise, with about 27,000 more people getting tested on Friday.

"This is not like the beginning of the pandemic. We are prepared for the winter surge because we have the tools at our disposal," Hochul said in a statement. "Getting vaccinated, getting the booster and wearing a mask are critical to avoiding getting seriously ill from COVID-19, so don't take a chance."

-ABC News' Joshua Hoyos


President Biden to announce 'next steps' in COVID-19 response on Tuesday

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks this Tuesday on the country's fight against COVID-19 and "announce new steps" the administration will take amid the growing spread of the omicron variant, White House officials said.

The president will address steps the administration is taking "to help communities in need of assistance, while also issuing a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Twitter Saturday afternoon.

The speech will come as millions of Americans prepare to travel and gather for the holidays, and as concerns about the omicron variant continue in the U.S. and around the world.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle


Over 10,000 additional confirmed omicron cases in UK

An additional 10,059 confirmed cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported across the U.K., according to the U.K. Health Security Agency's daily omicron overview on Saturday.


Confirmed omicron cases in the U.K. now total 24,968.

-ABC News' Rashid Haddou


NYU and Princeton move to cancel end-of-year events, hold exams online

School leaders at both New York University and Princeton University announced Wednesday that they will take steps to cancel end-of-year events and move winter exams online amid a surge in COVID-19 cases on their respective campuses.

"Given that we've seen an uptick in cases among undergraduates during the last 24 hours -- including suspected cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant -- we hope to avoid letting the final exam schedule interfere with students’ travel home for Winter Break," Princeton University's dean, Jill Dolan, and vice president for campus life, Rochelle Calhoun, said in a joint statement. "We certainly don’t want you remaining on campus in required isolation through the holidays."

All indoor gatherings with food and those where face coverings cannot be worn must be canceled or postponed at Princeton's New Jersey campus from Thursday through Jan. 7, according to the statement.

A statement from New York University's provost, Katherine Fleming, executive Vice President, Martin Dorph, and head of the COVID-19 prevention and response team, Dr. Carlo Ciotoli, said they "strongly encourage that final examinations and/or assessments be changed to remote/online format." All discretionary, non-essential, non-academic gatherings and events at the school's campus in New York City must be canceled "immediately," according to the statement.

"The continuous review of the data from our COVID-19 testing program has indicated a considerable acceleration in the rate of new cases in our community," they said. "It’s not a cause for alarm, but it is a cause for concern, caution, and appropriate actions."

NYU has also joined a growing list of colleges and universities across the nation that are requiring all eligible members of the school community, including faculty and students, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and receive a booster shot ahead of the upcoming spring semester.

Meanwhile, officials at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, announced Tuesday that they have moved the campus into a "level red" alert after identifying evidence of suspected cases of the omicron variant in a "significant" number of the school's COVID-19 positive samples from students.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the omicron variant is estimated to account for more than 13% of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the New York and New Jersey area -- the highest proportion of any region of the United States.

-ABC News' Chris Donato and Arielle Mitropoulos